Republicans hold onto Arizona Congressional seat

The 8th District covers the heavily conservative western Phoenix suburbs.

By

ReidJ. Epstein

Republican Debbie Lesko won Tuesday’s special election for a House seat in Arizona, defeating Democrat Hiral Tipirneni in a heavily Republican district that the party spent more than $1 million to retain.

Lesko, a state Senator, was declared the winner by the Associated Press late Tuesday night. Tipirneni was the first Democrat to contest the district, which covers suburbs north and west of Phoenix, since 2012. The seat is heavily Republican — President Donald Trump won by 21 percentage points in 2016 and Mitt Romney carried it by 25 points in 2012. Lesko held a six-point lead in early returns, the Associated Press reported.

Republicans, concerned that Democrats have outperformed the 2016 results in dozens of special elections this year, invested more than $1 million to back Lesko. The Republican National Committee and National Republican Campaign Committee each spent $500,000 on get-out-the-vote efforts and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s super PAC spent $200,000 on digital advertising. Democrats considered Tipirneni’s ability to make the race competitive a moral victory. Though she had little support from outside groups, Tipirneni raised $740,000.

The district was vacated when GOP Rep. Trent Franks resigned in December amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into whether he “engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment.”

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